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Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Here is what we sent out in our Christmas 2006 packages

Okay... I think I am officially exhausted! All of the goodies were packed and delivered to the post office this morning, despite us losing power for about 4 hours today! Here are the pictures of all the homemade goodies we sent out in our gift packs this year - the recipes are linked in the recipe title. Quite a few are ones that we have to make every year - but there are some new ones thrown in. There may be one or two that I have not had a chance to write up the recipe yet, but I will make sure to get that up in the next couple days - just hit refresh if you are looking to see if we updated it yet.

Tomorrow we will be delivering the packages we made up for local friends and the neighbors. I'll post what we made/included in their packages tomorrow night! After that, I think I'm ready for a good 3-4 day nap... please?

This is one of our favorite snacks during the holiday season - we always have to find the holiday shaped pretzels to use in it too!

This is another one that we have to make every single year. The perfect combination of salty and sweet in mini bite-sized form! Small peanut butter ritz bits dipped into real white chocolate and topped in holiday sprinkles.

White Chocolate Dipped Mini Peanut Butter Ritz Bits

We did the kisses a bit different this year - these crisp meringue cookies are still flavored with peppermint, except I painted red lines inside the pipping bag before filling it to create the colored stripes.

How could we not make our favorite new bark? We made this for the first time last year and will be making it for many years to come! I love the striking color difference in the layers and with a bonus of being able to be cut quite neatly! Rich, creamy and very peppermint-y!

One of the new recipes - crunchy biscotti flavored with spices found in gingerbread. Loved the addition of chopped apricots and nutty pecans. Fresh grated orange zest adds a fun background flavor which had people trying to guess what made these so good.

Yay!! I was waiting impatiently to see the goodies this year!!Wow Joe, you are an amazing guy, all these treats look so delicious and you have so many different flavors in there, I love it!Oh, and I made the Almond Rocca this past weekend and it was amazingly good, truly delicious candy! And now I now why so many great reviews, you just have got to try this toffee! (and I was super proud of myself that I got it right the first time making it too!! hehe!)Nice job, and you sure do deserve a good nap now!Ana

I think I forgot to send you my mailing address (hi, hi, hi). Wow it looks so good. I would like to receive one of your packages. Those Peppermint Kisses are so cool. Hope your friends and family enjoy.

A fantastic job as usual! Everyone on your mailing list is lucky to know you! Thank you though for ALL of your posts- your creativity is infectious, and a visit to your blog always gets me in the mood to cook. Keep up the fantastic blog! I get a TON of my recipes from you :)

I was so focused on cookies this year, that I really didn't think about or get around to candy this year - like the Snicker's Fudge you made recently or those Oreo Truffles - next year I definitely will put some candy items on the list.

Wow! That is amazing. They are all so beautiful. You've inspired me, and now I can't wait until next year so I can shower my own friends and family with treats. You make everything look so beautiful and perfect - I aspire to be that good someday. Merry Christmas!

Joe, think bigger than a double oven. Think Trivection. I don't have one, but I met a woman at a Teacher Appreciation meeting who did and she was in love with hers and how thanks to it, she'd been able to whip out 3 pans of bar cookies in less than 40 minutes. Each recipe only took about 11 or 12 minute to bake! With a regular oven, they would have taken 25 to 30. When you put something in the oven, you punch in the standard time. The oven is programmed to reduce the time for you. It's a GE Profile.